Rubber & Glue
by LilyHellsing
Summary: Rogue thinks about insults from her youth as well as now, when mutants are revealed.


**I was looking through Youtube and found a beautiful video that put tears in my eyes.**

**Inspired by ****3glitteringrose3's X-men: Evolution – If Everyone Cared, I decided to write a short story about just how horrible the prejudice is for mutants in the beginning. It is seen through Rogue's POV because I think she is the most tortured female of the group, unable to touch others and such.**

**Just a short one shot. Once again, I just wanted to mention; watch the video. Personally I loved the beginning where they're talking just as the song starts...very touching, I guess. Or maybe I'm the only one who thinks that and am weird XD**

**Review please!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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When you grow up, you hear adults say 'children can be so cruel'. Yet it seems like they don't even realize that they themselves remain children forever in some ways. They can be far crueler than any child I know.

When you're a kid, the worse insult you know is 'you're stupid' or 'you're stink'. The best comeback you know would probably be 'I am rubber and you are glue; whatever you say bounces off me and sticks right back to you!' Sadly, that isn't true.

If every insult you heard thrown at you could simply bounce off your emotions, your mind, your conscience, and go back to the person, everything would be fine. Harsh words like 'freak', 'bitch', or the more degrading one, 'worthless', would simply…bounce off.

For many, we are glue.

Though there are those who are like rubber, we are not all lucky. Those who have the astonishing ability to shake off any insult no matter how foul or cruel, no matter how vulgar or depressing, they are truly rubber.

Others are like glue. Every insult heard, every syllable of stupidity uttered, every thought of coldness that is voiced, sticks. You wonder if you really are a freak. You wonder if you are worthless.

There are many mutant powers, yet I've not met anyone with rubber powers. I've been unable to meet anyone who has the beautiful ability to ignore insults completely. I know that even though they shrug it off, it still hurts just a tad, like a prick of a needle to your finger.

In a way, I am rubber and I am glue.

Around my skin is rubber. Clothes are my rubber. They protect those who dare try to caress me. Lady Luck decided to give me the gift of poisonous skin, it would seem. I can't touch anyone, not even for a minute unless I want them dead or, if they're mutants, put into a coma. My power forces me to wear a sort of protection, rubber gloves if you will, against my will.

When I touch someone's skin, I absorb them. I absorb their personality, their traits, their quirks, their dislikes, their likes, their memories…them. I am like glue; taking in everything I touch even though I really don't want to.

These long sleeves, these gloves, these boots…they may protect me from other people, but certainly not from their harsh words. I am exposed just like many others to their insults. Like glue, I wince at the word 'freak' until I grow numb of hearing it, discarding it as a powerless battery. It no longer drives me to rage or sorrow; it merely causes a spark of annoyance.

Looking around the school I'm in right now, I see so many examples of bullying.

Before mutants were discovered, people picked on those who were 'different' by looks, by personality. They never thought of people who are different by genes. We are not pitied, we, mutants, are hated!

Scott deals with the football team shoving him back and forth, stealing his glasses.

Spyke deals with two dumb thugs threatening to rip out each spike he has…though I'd be amused to watch them try.

Jean deals with that idiot ex-boyfriend of hers, the head of the football team, try to use her.

Yet it's other mutants who save them. I help Spyke. We help each other. Kurt leaves us; I feel both hatred and jealousy for a brief moment. Hating him for ditching us and cowering. Jealous that he _could _cower; he was lucky enough to hide more.

"School's so hypocritical." I pushed back my white bangs, annoyed at how they blocked my vision at times.

"Why do you say that?" Kitty asked as she fought with her locker. With a scowl, she hit the thing as though it would feel pain. I could tell by the twinkle in her eyes that she was tempted to use her powers to phase through it, grab her books, and leave. Thanks to the Prof's warning though, she wouldn't.

Letting my back lean against the metal monsters, I answered, "They preach about accepting others…homosexuals, different skin colors, people who like the color black…that type of thing. But at the first sign of powers, of something we can't control…they turn against us. Ah hate it; they're treatin' us like poison! Where's their damn 'tolerance' now!?"

Kitty's fingers briefly paused in her spinning of the lock. Quickly though, she continued. "…I know." She mumbled quietly, finally giving up and punching her locker. Hissing in pain, she kissed her knuckles. "Bells gonna ring; come on."

With a sigh, I forced myself to move forward.

When I walked through the hall to my math class, I could hear people whisper behind me. I could feel their gazes on me. I could even hear muffled snickers.

When you grow up, you hear adults say 'children can be so cruel'. Yet they are worse than their offspring who are innocent at first. They are not like a clean slate, not like their children. They know so much more and they use it against us. Us, the mutants who find out what they really are when they are small. When we are kids ourselves, we're scorned, hated, feared…all because our parents tell us we're freaks, we're worthless…we are a mistake.

Looking outside through the window, I wonder though if Professor Xavier's dream is real...or fantasy.


End file.
